


Blue Buds

by A_Zap



Series: Missing Moments [11]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonding, Friendship, Gen, Platonic Allurance, Seriously when will it be revealed, lance's skincare routine, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-21 23:44:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14925246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Zap/pseuds/A_Zap
Summary: After becoming Blue’s pilot, Allura found that she wanted to get closer to Lance. What better way to bond than joining him for his skincare routine?





	Blue Buds

"And there we go!" Lance leaned back with a smile. "Now just let that set for about half an hour. Uh, about 30 doboshes."

Allura leaned back as well and resisted the urge to prod at the gooey substance covering her face. How peculiar it felt. "It tingles." She murmured, almost to herself.

Lance perked up at her words. "That's how you know it's working!" He smiled a bit as he pulled the small mirror stand closer to himself and began to spread the face mask mixture over his own face.

Something in Allura relaxed upon seeing Lance's quiet happiness. She's been unsure whether this was the right way to proceed, but it looked like Hunk's advice had been good.

Asking Lance if she could join in on his nightly skincare routine had been a great way to bond. Allura hadn't expected Lance's enthusiasm at someone joining him and he had practically started beaming before she had even finished the question.

Now, Allura found herself studying the Paladin as he evened out the goop.

She hadn't expected to ever want to bond with Lance in any way. His flirtations when they had first met had not made a great first impression even when they had died off to just the occasional comment. She had also disliked how he would often try to joke when things had turned towards the worse.

Things had changed however.

Since Shiro disappeared, Lance had really stepped up. He led missions with the Blade and Hunk to help liberate planets while everyone was still reeling from the loss. Allura gained appreciation for his jokes as they brought a much needed levity to the tense air within the Castle, which she realized had probably been his intention all along. Lance had been the only one to truly get through to Keith, both when he had comforted him and then supported him through the Lion transition.

And now, Allura was piloting Blue, Lance's former Lion.

It was only after Lance gave her advice and she got herself into a Lance-like mindset, being willing to work with someone, adapt as needed, and listen to others' advice, that she had been able to fly her.

So she found herself wanting to understand him more.

Allura blinked as Lance clapped his hands together, snapping her out of her reverie. Glancing around, she saw that while she had been lost in thought he'd finished setting his own face mask and had set up a timer to let them know when it was time to remove it.

"Okay." Lance smiled at her again, his eyes shining with excitement. "Now, normally I do yoga, read, or play video games while I'm waiting for this to finish," he gestured at the face mask, "but seeing as you decided to join me for once, this is a momentous occasion that deserves recognition!"

Allura found herself chuckling a bit. "You don't have to go out of your way to find something to include me, Lance." Though she would admit that part of her felt flattered that he was willing to accommodate her in his routines.

Lance waved her comments away as he turned and opened a drawer, rummaging around a bit. "No problem, Allura. Though you should feel honored, I haven't even shown Hunk this yet." He pivoted back around, now holding a small case in his hands, and settled next to her.

Allura peered over curiously as he opened it up, revealing rows of small colorful bottles. "What are they?" She had never seen anything like it before.

Lance's grin widened as much as it could through the face mask while he held up one of the small bottles. "Nail polish!"

"Nail polish?" Allura asked, trying to raise an eyebrow before remembering her face mask, as she looked back up at Lance.

"Yeah!" He laughed. "It's essentially a type of paint that you can use on your nails to make them different colors. My sister used to do it with me and I used to do it with my nieces and cousins." Lance began setting out different colors for Allura to look at.

"Plus, Hunk liked doing it with me at the Garrison." Lance hummed thoughtfully. "I wonder if Pidge would like painting her nails. She once mentioned that she used to wear the occasional dress before she started disguising herself… And I don't know how Keith feels about this sort of stuff." He lightly frowned. "Hmm. I'll have to ask. Maybe we can make a team bonding thing."

"So what exactly do you do?" Allura poked at one of the bottles, starting slightly as the contents swished a bit at the movement.

Lance jerked out of his thoughts with a blink before redirecting his attention back to her. "Oh, I'll show you! Just pick a color!"

"I see…" Allura looked over the rainbow of colors. For such a small box, it seemed to have held quite a number of the bottles. There were varying shades of different colors, so it was so hard to choose - Did that pink have sparkles in it?!

Allura delicately lifted up the bottle of bright pink nail polish, her own eyes sparkling at the glitter within the polish.

Lance chuckled a bit and plucked it from her fingers. "I think we have a winner here." He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers when Allura just stared at it. "Give me your hand."

Allura placed her hand in his as he shook the bottle of polish. She simply observed as he single-handedly twisted open the bottle and lifted the lid to reveal that a brush extending from within its cap.

"Alright, watch how it's done and once it's dry I'll give you the option of doing your other hand yourself." Lance said, before he demonstrated how to paint nails. Allura watched a bit astounded as he gently brushed the paint onto her nails, leaving color in its wake, but she took in his directions with the same amount of seriousness that she did during a briefing.

Before long, Allura was staring at her sparkly pink nails in wonder.

"That's just the first coat. It needs to dry a bit before we put on the second." Lance closed the bottle and set it to the side. "I think I have some clear top coat here, so we can use that when we're done."

"I see." Allura didn't really know what exactly that meant, but she did realize that they were going to be painting more than one layer on her nails. She didn't really care as long as her nails got to sparkle like this. "What color will you choose?"

"Why, blue, of course, for my - " Lance cut off, halfway reaching for one of the blues. His smile faltered, a deep sadness passing through his eyes, and oh, this is what Allura had been waiting for.

After all, she had seen his reaction when they first switched and when he had handed his bayard over to her. She had seen the occasional fleeting glance in the direction of Blue's hangar when it was time to assemble. As happy as she was to finally be a Paladin, her heart ached for the longing she sometimes saw in Lance's eyes.

Allura could relate to that.

"Lance?" She prodded, as Lance still seemed frozen mid-gesture.

He shook himself out of the stupor he'd fallen in, smile back in place. "I guess it should be red now, huh?" Lance shifted and took a dark red before frowning a bit and picking up a brighter shade. "Though I guess I don't need to go full emo just yet."

It was almost painful watching Lance try to act normal.

"Lance?" Allura tentatively asked, and though Lance gave an interested hum, he didn't look up from where he was now painting his nails red. She abruptly decided to switch tactics. "You know Blue misses you, right?"

Lance paused. For a second, she thought he'd make a joke, brush it off, just like he usually seemed to do. However, he instead slumped a bit before continuing to paint his nails. "You… you think?" She had never heard him so quiet before.

"I know." Allura said with complete confidence. Lance finally met her eyes and she smiled at him. "She does miss you, Lance."

She wasn't lying. Allura could sense through her new bond with Blue her sorrow over having lost Lance, her regret over having to break things off between them the way she did. The Lion did like Allura and enjoyed having her as her Paladin, but Allura knew who Blue's first choice was.

When Blue thought of Lance, Allura saw images of small drops of water falling from the sky. She'd never seen such a thing, but somehow the picture seemed like the perfect representation of Blue's melancholy.

Lance's smile was just a tad bit watery. "Thanks." It's as soft as a huff of air, and then Lance straightened and it was the Lance that she had come to know. He finished off his final nail on his left hand. "And done! Ready for a second coat?"

Allura smiled wider, her heart lighter already. "Yes."

They continued to chat, and when Allura's first hand was done, she tried painting her other hand herself, following Lance's instructions and careful corrections to the letter. She couldn't help but sit back and admire the results, even if her other hand was not as clean and precise as her first.

Though admittedly, she did smile a bit more as Lance used the blue he'd tried grabbing first, the one that was the same shade as the Lion they both piloted, on his right hand.

The two of them laughed together as the timer dinged and Lance showed her how to remove the face mask and continued with his skincare regimen that turned out to be as thorough as Allura's training schedules.

And as the conversation flowed and she couldn't help but relax in Lance's calming presence, Allura just knew that this was the start of a wonderful friendship.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I've said before that pretty much everything in this series (unless a ship or something were to be confirmed in canon) would be platonic, so have some platonic Allurance. I really love how far their relationship has developed and since S3 they've become such great friends. I know Lance has a crush on her (even if he's pretty much lessened the flirting since S2 [I think that one clip that was released is the first time he's implied a potential romantic connection between them since S2]), but they are friends as well. I think Allura is probably the only one on the Castleship who would truly appreciate Lance's skincare routine and I think it would have been a great way for them to connect. Also some feels about Blue because that was... really painful to see back in S3. I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> By the way, the title is because they both pilot Blue and their friendship is beginning to blossom, and that they are now buddies (I actually use this to tag platonic stuff for them on Tumblr).


End file.
